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inugamirpg
Player Information
Name/Alias: Mer
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antagoniste
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triggerwarned
Timezone: EST
HMD: Here!
In-Game/Processing: Seth Nightroad (thirdof), Shinichi Izumi (prudentiam)
Character Information
Name/Alias: Maxine "Max" Caulfield
Fandom: Life is Strange
Canonpoint: Episode 4
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Physical Description: ready for the moshpit, shaka brah
History: Ready For The Temporal Moshpit, Shaka Brah: A Memoir
As the game factors in certain important decisions that Max makes, which alters certain parts of the overall storyline, I will outline the path Max has taken in my playthrough below.
PIVOTAL DECISIONS MADE:
EPISODE 1
- Reported Nathan after he pulls a gun on Chloe
- Comforted Victoria after causing paint to splatter all over her
- Intervened to help Kate when she was being harassed by David.
- Stayed hidden in the closet when Chloe gets busted for pot by David.
EPISODE 2
- Told Kate to go to the police when an incriminating viral video involving her goes live.
- Answered Kate's phone call upon leaving the Two Whales diner with Chloe to go to the junkyard.
- Tried to shoot Frank during a confrontation at the junkyard.
- Prevented Kate from committing suicide by jumping off the roof of Blackwell Academy.
- Pinned responsibility on Nathan for Kate's suicide attempt.
EPISODE 3
- Left the handicap fund money alone when scouring the Principal's office for information on Nathan, David, and Rachel.
- Kissed Chloe when she dared Max to.
- Sided with Chloe during a heated argument with David at the Price household.
- Tossed bait into the parking lot to draw Frank's dog Pompidou away from his RV to get into it.
- Chloe is in possession of David's gun.
EPISODE 4
- Refused to euthanize Chloe in the alternate timeline.
- Let Warren jump Nathan upon the latter catching Max and Chloe coming out of his dorm room.
- Managed to gain Frank's account book of all his drug deals peacefully.
Personality:
Max is, simply put, a geek. While she's certainly capable of mustering up social graces---she has a reputation throughout Blackwell Academy stemming from her preference for analog photography (she even owns an old-fashioned polaroid-like instant camera), and she gets on civilly with most of her peers, in particular aspiring artist Daniel DaCosta, science geek Warren Graham, aspiring illustrator Kate Marsh, and cheerleader Dana Ward, who she helps through the aftermath of a pregnancy scare and accusations of cheating with another classmate's boyfriend, she is a girl with a bit of an eccentric side, often making nerdy references in her dialogue and showing an interest in obscure films. She is passionate about photography, to the point where she has a website called "Camera Porn" bookmarked on her laptop, and in her journal entry, she expresses a desire to make photography a career; there are also various points throughout the game that she has the opportunity to snap memorable photos, and even selfies. Through her photography, Max has developed a keen eye for detail, which proves useful when she finds herself embroiled in the search for the missing Rachel Amber and the possible conspiracy involving the prestigious Prescott family.
At first glance, to most people, Max can come off as shy, introverted, self-deprecating, and a little awkward. Her timidity and tendency to wisecrack about herself and some of the decisions and mistakes she makes is especially apparent in her interactions with some of the more popular, prestigious students in Blackwell; namely, those affiliated with the enigmatic Vortex Club. When both Dana and Courtney offer to give her makeovers in time for the club's upcoming party, Max sheepishly laughs off the offers, though she's easygoing enough to acquiesce. By and large, Max's default state can best be described as laidback, perhaps to a fault---her teacher, Mark Jefferson, repeatedly pushes her to make more of an effort to put her work out there, and to submit a photo to the "Everyday Heroes" contest he has organized for his class. Her school file even remarks that she should be encouraged to participate and speak up more often, and that she comes across as too "nervous." Indeed, throughout the early parts of the game, where she's still coming into her sudden, newfound abilities over time, Max is initially hesitant to push them too far, and even displays a slight fear toward her powers, and the potential consequences they can bring. She also tends to lose her nerve, especially around Frank, who initially intimidates her with his brusque and violent attitude.
When her longtime, but slightly estranged best friend Chloe Price literally crashes back into her life, however, everything changes----or rather, Max finds herself reevaluating how she has behaved all this time. Chloe is a wild child, a rebellious girl who dares to be different and openly defies her stern stepfather, Blackwell security guard David Madsen. That being said, Chloe tends to play devil's advocate to some of the more elaborate demonstrations of Max's powers, and as their investigation into Rachel and the Prescotts takes increasingly disturbing turns, Max grows more confident and assertive about her powers, even going so far as to use them to help Chloe break into Principal Wells' office, and outright using her powers to more or less make local drug dealer Frank Bowers look like an idiot. Chloe is her muse and inspiration, and through her, Max finds strength; doubly so, after bearing witness to her death at Nathan's hands during the beginning of the game before rewinding to save her life. But, that's not to say that Max entirely enables Chloe's recklessness in turn; she is often the latter's voice of reason due to having a more composed and analytical attitude, especially when it comes to their dealings with Frank, Nathan, and David, where Chloe tends to fly off the handle due to her emotions and anger over David and Rachel getting the best of her.
As Max helps Chloe deal with her family problems and shows her support, even saving the latter's life yet again from getting run over by a train when messing around with Max's powers in the junkyard, the two repair their bond, and Max demonstrates a protective streak that wasn't immediately apparent before; she willingly pulls David's gun on Frank to shield Chloe from harm, and even pulls the trigger, though the gun turns out to be empty. In siding with Chloe against David's extreme disciplinary and protective measures, Max stands up to him, berating him for hitting Chloe when he busted her for pot. This protectiveness and loyalty extends to her other classmate, the pious Kate Marsh, during the bullying and backlash against her due to a salacious viral video that got spread around of her; Max encourages Kate to take action and tampers with Victoria Chase's attempts to ramp up the harassment via writing the link to the video on the bathroom mirror and offensive messages on the whiteboard next to Kate's room.
Max can also be surprisingly catty and vicious, though it doesn't crop up often besides in her interactions with the Academy's resident "It" girl, Victoria. The two often trade insults with each other, and Max makes snarky comments regarding Victoria's closeted nerdy streak and wealthy status upon searching her room and calls her an "asshole" frequently. She also mocks Victoria's attempts to flirt with Mr. Jefferson.
She's humorously oblivious as well; for all of her attachment and loyalty to Chloe, her close friendship with Warren suffers a bit, as he has a crush on her. While she shows appreciation toward him coming to her aid against Nathan on two separate occasions, and talks with him easily on account of common interests, she unintentionally shoots down his attempts to get closer.
But as the story progresses, and Max makes some very critical decisions regarding her powers and the people in her life, she begins to develop a stronger sense of responsibility, and a resourcefulness. She becomes more cognizant of the heavy consequences her powers can cause; in going back to her childhood using an old photograph, Max alters the overall timeline by preventing the car accident that killed Chloe's biological father, William. However, the catch is that Chloe has been rendered paraplegic in the new timeline, having gotten into an accident herself, and it has resulted in her respiratory system becoming weak. Horrified and saddened by the fact that she's only made her best friend suffer more, with Chloe even begging her to euthanize her, Max has no choice but to rewind again and let things pass as they had originally, apologizing to both William and Chloe. In figuring out how to change other events, such as Chloe getting stuck on the train tracks and trying to find a way to redirect the direction of the tracks, or by learning pertinent information through her conversations with people and using that information after rewinding and talking again, Max develops problem-solving and information-gathering skills, and both prove to be lifesaving, particularly during the third encounter with Frank by the beach, where Max appeals to his softer side by bringing up the subjects of both his dog and Rachel, who was his onetime girlfriend.
What may be Max's greatest strength and weakness, however, is her sense of compassion toward those who are close to her. While she's able to save Kate's life by bringing up her family and their friendship, which ultimately causes the latter to have an epiphany, and she encourages Daniel to continue to pursue his passion for drawing after his photo submissions for the contest are rejected, and to go to the Vortex Club party as a way of rebelling and showing his courage, it drives her to do some very reckless and dangerous things, even though it's in the name of doing what is right and bringing people to justice for their wrongdoings. Besides causing the alternate timeline, she puts herself more and more at risk by digging into some very personal and shady matters, such as the Prescotts' monopoly over Arcadia Bay as a whole and attempts to have blind eyes turned at Nathan's increasingly erratic behavior. And really, Max is doing it for Chloe (and to a lesser extent, Kate, displaying a righteous anger toward the bullying that the latter endured); best friends forever, right? But damn the consequences...
Abilities:
Max has the power to manipulate time to a limited degree, which branches out into the following core abilities:
Rewind: By focusing and holding out her hand, Max can reverse time in short bursts; her upper limit appears to be five minutes. In addition, this ability enables her to "teleport" to some extent, as she will not be in the same spot she was prior. However, extensive usage of her time reversal takes a physical toll on her; she has been known to suffer headaches, pass out, and nosebleed if she pushes things too far. She herself retains all memories and objects taken from prior and after the rewind, while others won't recall anything.
Precognition: Max also can foresee future events, which manifests in the form of visions---so far, her only demonstration of this ability has been the vision of the cataclysmic tornado that is poised to hit Arcadia Bay, in the middle of what seems to be a severe thunderstorm, by the local lighthouse.
Stop: Max can freeze time, also for a limited duration; she herself can move and can interact with inanimate objects (such as doors), but she cannot interact with anything that's alive (such as humans and animals) until she allows time to progress once more, as shown when she goes to prevent Kate's suicide attempt.
Focus: By focusing on a photograph, Max can physically enter the time period in which the photo was taken, and, in turn, possibly alter the past. However, she can only remain within the immediate area where the photograph was shot, and can only enter photos in which she herself is present. Once she's finished utilizing this ability, Max returns to the present timeline, while retaining memories of the previous timeline.
Samples
Dialogue: TDM toplevel!
Exposition/Introspection:
She's never been so exhausted in her life. Max practically stumbles into the empty classroom she just barged into, quickly shutting the door behind her, slumping against it once it clicks into place. Her breath comes out in shaky, erratic gasps---if dealing with the increasing amount of weirdos and shady characters in Arcadia Bay was a workout, then Jeepers Creepers Japanese High School is an Olympic sport. In all of her 18 years of living (and that's not even counting the traumatizing alternate timeline she created), Maxine Caulfield has never run for more than a few hours. And never outside of P.E. or summer camp.
More importantly, she has never found herself running for her life from strange tentacles that abruptly come flinging their way through random doors or corners. She's sure it'll look good on some kind of resume, but feeling like an action hero is far from how she's actually feeling right now.
In fact, she just feels lost. A little alone. Definitely scared and stressed out.
Same old, same old, even if she's possibly abroad. But even with everything that was going on back home, Max had a support network. She had her powers---which she's mysteriously lost, so that makes her even more of an action hero on paper. She had her friends; Warren, Kate...
...Chloe. God, what would they think, seeing her like this, hyperventilating, clutching onto a prehistoric flip phone like she's Rose and it's Jack? Warren would be texting her nonstop out of worry. Kate, having already gone through a slew of bullying and a suicide attempt, would do everything in her power to talk Max through a situation like this. And Chloe---
---Well, Chloe would probably be right next to her, just as freaked out, but grabbing her by the shoulders, looking her straight in the eye, and hissing through her teeth, hey, we'll get through this, alright? Don't go Blue Screen of Death on me, got it? You're Super Max even without your time mojo!
Max curls into herself, and her breathing slows; only a little, but it no longer feels like she's trying to make her own lungs burst. She wonders. Is she still Super Max? Her escape command only succeeded through sheer luck. And even with her powers, she still screwed up plenty. Talking Kate out of jumping had also been partially a fluke; her powers managed to upgrade themselves at the most crucial moment, and it just so happened Kate still had enough sense in her to listen to Max's desperate appeals.
But then she remembers Chloe in the alternate timeline, hooked up to IVs and machines in her bedroom like Frankenstein's Monster, begging her to end her suffering---which had been her own fault, because she tampered with William's fate. An eye for an eye, it seemed; Chloe had her father back, but at the cost of her own well-being.
Because Max thought she could play hero and right all the wrongs that had befallen her best friend.
Max half-swallows back a sob, but it bubbles up anyway, quiet in its incompleteness.
"I don't know, Chloe..." she mutters to herself. "...How long can I keep this up?"
Name/Alias: Mer
Player Journal:
antagonisteContact:
Timezone: EST
HMD: Here!
In-Game/Processing: Seth Nightroad (
thirdof), Shinichi Izumi (prudentiam) Character Information
Name/Alias: Maxine "Max" Caulfield
Fandom: Life is Strange
Canonpoint: Episode 4
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Physical Description: ready for the moshpit, shaka brah
History: Ready For The Temporal Moshpit, Shaka Brah: A Memoir
As the game factors in certain important decisions that Max makes, which alters certain parts of the overall storyline, I will outline the path Max has taken in my playthrough below.
PIVOTAL DECISIONS MADE:
EPISODE 1
- Reported Nathan after he pulls a gun on Chloe
- Comforted Victoria after causing paint to splatter all over her
- Intervened to help Kate when she was being harassed by David.
- Stayed hidden in the closet when Chloe gets busted for pot by David.
EPISODE 2
- Told Kate to go to the police when an incriminating viral video involving her goes live.
- Answered Kate's phone call upon leaving the Two Whales diner with Chloe to go to the junkyard.
- Tried to shoot Frank during a confrontation at the junkyard.
- Prevented Kate from committing suicide by jumping off the roof of Blackwell Academy.
- Pinned responsibility on Nathan for Kate's suicide attempt.
EPISODE 3
- Left the handicap fund money alone when scouring the Principal's office for information on Nathan, David, and Rachel.
- Kissed Chloe when she dared Max to.
- Sided with Chloe during a heated argument with David at the Price household.
- Tossed bait into the parking lot to draw Frank's dog Pompidou away from his RV to get into it.
- Chloe is in possession of David's gun.
EPISODE 4
- Refused to euthanize Chloe in the alternate timeline.
- Let Warren jump Nathan upon the latter catching Max and Chloe coming out of his dorm room.
- Managed to gain Frank's account book of all his drug deals peacefully.
Personality:
Max is, simply put, a geek. While she's certainly capable of mustering up social graces---she has a reputation throughout Blackwell Academy stemming from her preference for analog photography (she even owns an old-fashioned polaroid-like instant camera), and she gets on civilly with most of her peers, in particular aspiring artist Daniel DaCosta, science geek Warren Graham, aspiring illustrator Kate Marsh, and cheerleader Dana Ward, who she helps through the aftermath of a pregnancy scare and accusations of cheating with another classmate's boyfriend, she is a girl with a bit of an eccentric side, often making nerdy references in her dialogue and showing an interest in obscure films. She is passionate about photography, to the point where she has a website called "Camera Porn" bookmarked on her laptop, and in her journal entry, she expresses a desire to make photography a career; there are also various points throughout the game that she has the opportunity to snap memorable photos, and even selfies. Through her photography, Max has developed a keen eye for detail, which proves useful when she finds herself embroiled in the search for the missing Rachel Amber and the possible conspiracy involving the prestigious Prescott family.
At first glance, to most people, Max can come off as shy, introverted, self-deprecating, and a little awkward. Her timidity and tendency to wisecrack about herself and some of the decisions and mistakes she makes is especially apparent in her interactions with some of the more popular, prestigious students in Blackwell; namely, those affiliated with the enigmatic Vortex Club. When both Dana and Courtney offer to give her makeovers in time for the club's upcoming party, Max sheepishly laughs off the offers, though she's easygoing enough to acquiesce. By and large, Max's default state can best be described as laidback, perhaps to a fault---her teacher, Mark Jefferson, repeatedly pushes her to make more of an effort to put her work out there, and to submit a photo to the "Everyday Heroes" contest he has organized for his class. Her school file even remarks that she should be encouraged to participate and speak up more often, and that she comes across as too "nervous." Indeed, throughout the early parts of the game, where she's still coming into her sudden, newfound abilities over time, Max is initially hesitant to push them too far, and even displays a slight fear toward her powers, and the potential consequences they can bring. She also tends to lose her nerve, especially around Frank, who initially intimidates her with his brusque and violent attitude.
When her longtime, but slightly estranged best friend Chloe Price literally crashes back into her life, however, everything changes----or rather, Max finds herself reevaluating how she has behaved all this time. Chloe is a wild child, a rebellious girl who dares to be different and openly defies her stern stepfather, Blackwell security guard David Madsen. That being said, Chloe tends to play devil's advocate to some of the more elaborate demonstrations of Max's powers, and as their investigation into Rachel and the Prescotts takes increasingly disturbing turns, Max grows more confident and assertive about her powers, even going so far as to use them to help Chloe break into Principal Wells' office, and outright using her powers to more or less make local drug dealer Frank Bowers look like an idiot. Chloe is her muse and inspiration, and through her, Max finds strength; doubly so, after bearing witness to her death at Nathan's hands during the beginning of the game before rewinding to save her life. But, that's not to say that Max entirely enables Chloe's recklessness in turn; she is often the latter's voice of reason due to having a more composed and analytical attitude, especially when it comes to their dealings with Frank, Nathan, and David, where Chloe tends to fly off the handle due to her emotions and anger over David and Rachel getting the best of her.
As Max helps Chloe deal with her family problems and shows her support, even saving the latter's life yet again from getting run over by a train when messing around with Max's powers in the junkyard, the two repair their bond, and Max demonstrates a protective streak that wasn't immediately apparent before; she willingly pulls David's gun on Frank to shield Chloe from harm, and even pulls the trigger, though the gun turns out to be empty. In siding with Chloe against David's extreme disciplinary and protective measures, Max stands up to him, berating him for hitting Chloe when he busted her for pot. This protectiveness and loyalty extends to her other classmate, the pious Kate Marsh, during the bullying and backlash against her due to a salacious viral video that got spread around of her; Max encourages Kate to take action and tampers with Victoria Chase's attempts to ramp up the harassment via writing the link to the video on the bathroom mirror and offensive messages on the whiteboard next to Kate's room.
Max can also be surprisingly catty and vicious, though it doesn't crop up often besides in her interactions with the Academy's resident "It" girl, Victoria. The two often trade insults with each other, and Max makes snarky comments regarding Victoria's closeted nerdy streak and wealthy status upon searching her room and calls her an "asshole" frequently. She also mocks Victoria's attempts to flirt with Mr. Jefferson.
She's humorously oblivious as well; for all of her attachment and loyalty to Chloe, her close friendship with Warren suffers a bit, as he has a crush on her. While she shows appreciation toward him coming to her aid against Nathan on two separate occasions, and talks with him easily on account of common interests, she unintentionally shoots down his attempts to get closer.
But as the story progresses, and Max makes some very critical decisions regarding her powers and the people in her life, she begins to develop a stronger sense of responsibility, and a resourcefulness. She becomes more cognizant of the heavy consequences her powers can cause; in going back to her childhood using an old photograph, Max alters the overall timeline by preventing the car accident that killed Chloe's biological father, William. However, the catch is that Chloe has been rendered paraplegic in the new timeline, having gotten into an accident herself, and it has resulted in her respiratory system becoming weak. Horrified and saddened by the fact that she's only made her best friend suffer more, with Chloe even begging her to euthanize her, Max has no choice but to rewind again and let things pass as they had originally, apologizing to both William and Chloe. In figuring out how to change other events, such as Chloe getting stuck on the train tracks and trying to find a way to redirect the direction of the tracks, or by learning pertinent information through her conversations with people and using that information after rewinding and talking again, Max develops problem-solving and information-gathering skills, and both prove to be lifesaving, particularly during the third encounter with Frank by the beach, where Max appeals to his softer side by bringing up the subjects of both his dog and Rachel, who was his onetime girlfriend.
What may be Max's greatest strength and weakness, however, is her sense of compassion toward those who are close to her. While she's able to save Kate's life by bringing up her family and their friendship, which ultimately causes the latter to have an epiphany, and she encourages Daniel to continue to pursue his passion for drawing after his photo submissions for the contest are rejected, and to go to the Vortex Club party as a way of rebelling and showing his courage, it drives her to do some very reckless and dangerous things, even though it's in the name of doing what is right and bringing people to justice for their wrongdoings. Besides causing the alternate timeline, she puts herself more and more at risk by digging into some very personal and shady matters, such as the Prescotts' monopoly over Arcadia Bay as a whole and attempts to have blind eyes turned at Nathan's increasingly erratic behavior. And really, Max is doing it for Chloe (and to a lesser extent, Kate, displaying a righteous anger toward the bullying that the latter endured); best friends forever, right? But damn the consequences...
Abilities:
Max has the power to manipulate time to a limited degree, which branches out into the following core abilities:
Rewind: By focusing and holding out her hand, Max can reverse time in short bursts; her upper limit appears to be five minutes. In addition, this ability enables her to "teleport" to some extent, as she will not be in the same spot she was prior. However, extensive usage of her time reversal takes a physical toll on her; she has been known to suffer headaches, pass out, and nosebleed if she pushes things too far. She herself retains all memories and objects taken from prior and after the rewind, while others won't recall anything.
Precognition: Max also can foresee future events, which manifests in the form of visions---so far, her only demonstration of this ability has been the vision of the cataclysmic tornado that is poised to hit Arcadia Bay, in the middle of what seems to be a severe thunderstorm, by the local lighthouse.
Stop: Max can freeze time, also for a limited duration; she herself can move and can interact with inanimate objects (such as doors), but she cannot interact with anything that's alive (such as humans and animals) until she allows time to progress once more, as shown when she goes to prevent Kate's suicide attempt.
Focus: By focusing on a photograph, Max can physically enter the time period in which the photo was taken, and, in turn, possibly alter the past. However, she can only remain within the immediate area where the photograph was shot, and can only enter photos in which she herself is present. Once she's finished utilizing this ability, Max returns to the present timeline, while retaining memories of the previous timeline.
Samples
Dialogue: TDM toplevel!
Exposition/Introspection:
She's never been so exhausted in her life. Max practically stumbles into the empty classroom she just barged into, quickly shutting the door behind her, slumping against it once it clicks into place. Her breath comes out in shaky, erratic gasps---if dealing with the increasing amount of weirdos and shady characters in Arcadia Bay was a workout, then Jeepers Creepers Japanese High School is an Olympic sport. In all of her 18 years of living (and that's not even counting the traumatizing alternate timeline she created), Maxine Caulfield has never run for more than a few hours. And never outside of P.E. or summer camp.
More importantly, she has never found herself running for her life from strange tentacles that abruptly come flinging their way through random doors or corners. She's sure it'll look good on some kind of resume, but feeling like an action hero is far from how she's actually feeling right now.
In fact, she just feels lost. A little alone. Definitely scared and stressed out.
Same old, same old, even if she's possibly abroad. But even with everything that was going on back home, Max had a support network. She had her powers---which she's mysteriously lost, so that makes her even more of an action hero on paper. She had her friends; Warren, Kate...
...Chloe. God, what would they think, seeing her like this, hyperventilating, clutching onto a prehistoric flip phone like she's Rose and it's Jack? Warren would be texting her nonstop out of worry. Kate, having already gone through a slew of bullying and a suicide attempt, would do everything in her power to talk Max through a situation like this. And Chloe---
---Well, Chloe would probably be right next to her, just as freaked out, but grabbing her by the shoulders, looking her straight in the eye, and hissing through her teeth, hey, we'll get through this, alright? Don't go Blue Screen of Death on me, got it? You're Super Max even without your time mojo!
Max curls into herself, and her breathing slows; only a little, but it no longer feels like she's trying to make her own lungs burst. She wonders. Is she still Super Max? Her escape command only succeeded through sheer luck. And even with her powers, she still screwed up plenty. Talking Kate out of jumping had also been partially a fluke; her powers managed to upgrade themselves at the most crucial moment, and it just so happened Kate still had enough sense in her to listen to Max's desperate appeals.
But then she remembers Chloe in the alternate timeline, hooked up to IVs and machines in her bedroom like Frankenstein's Monster, begging her to end her suffering---which had been her own fault, because she tampered with William's fate. An eye for an eye, it seemed; Chloe had her father back, but at the cost of her own well-being.
Because Max thought she could play hero and right all the wrongs that had befallen her best friend.
Max half-swallows back a sob, but it bubbles up anyway, quiet in its incompleteness.
"I don't know, Chloe..." she mutters to herself. "...How long can I keep this up?"